Friday, May 18, 2012

The Great Penguin Rescue

The Great Penguin Rescue: 40,000 Penguins, a Devastating Oil
Spill, and the Inspiring Story of the World’s Largest Animal Rescueby Dyan deNapoli

2010

Weight: 10.4 oz

Method of Disposal: Leaving Somewhere

Is there anything about this title and this book as a whole
that does not scream at me to pick it up and read it right away?No.As
if the words were in bold, my eyes see “penguin” and “world’s largest animal
rescue.”It is irresistible.I dream of penguin rescue and here is someone
who lived it.This was one of those
slip-ups where I bought a book after I had already started this project.It happens sometimes.I buy electronic books from time to time, and
I also buy real books, though very very rarely.Confession complete.I simply NEED the feeling of walking into a
bookstore, smelling the pages, and picking out some books at random.Not looking for anything in particular except
something new to read.

I do not want penguins to be in need of rescue, but I know
that they frequently are.I do not
believe in interfering too much with wild animals and their lives, except in
the case of rescue, and so here is how I imagine my dream realized.If I am ever to be around penguins, it will
probably be in a rescue scenario.I have
worked with animals enough to know that rescue isn’t all glamour, and it isn’t full
of cute and cuddly moments of joy all the time.deNapoli talks about the stench, the razor sharp penguin bites, the
sadness, and the sheer exhaustion of rescuing penguins after a massive oil
spill.She also talks about the strength
of people, their overwhelming ability to come together and express love.She has an amazing story to tell.

I am going to need someone to help me realize this dream. Here is how you can make it happen.Hook me up with one of these groups:

It will be a minimum of $2,000.You have that laying around, collecting dust,
right?Okay okay.I am joking, but I have realized that this is
a dream I can make happen.Eventually.I can save the money
and by the time my dogs pass away (which will be never if I have it my way) I
will have it all, and I will go make a difference in some “ungrateful
penguin’s” lives.I cannot wait.I CANNOT wait.

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Among the Rubble of Fallen Bookshelves...

I have collected books for as long as I can remember. I worked in bookstores for years before I ended up at the animal shelter. I have gathered words, sentences, punctuation, and cover art to my own detriment. I purchased books before clothes, sometimes instead of food. I can see my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood sprawled across many shelves and shoved into boxes that sit collecting dust, just waiting for the next big move. I think I am a woman who is afraid of commitment, settling, and stagnation. Yet the things I love most seem to coincide best with a stable, secure, immovable life. I love dogs, books, and often one woman’s company above that of others. The dogs are here for the long haul. They are too wonderful for this world and yet they are essential to it. The woman is complicated. The books are sturdy, durable, constant, perfect, and full of intrigue. They are also very heavy. They are boxes of ounces, pounds, kilograms, weight. We have moved together too many times. Maybe we met at the wrong time in the wrong place, and I have just refused to let go all of this time. I have decided to dismantle this library of thousands of books. What am I holding onto really? I have books I loved, books I hated, books that made me uneasy for weeks, and books that made someone else uneasy for weeks. I have begun to treat these books like objects and not like the magical capsules they are. I am going to give away, sell, donate all of this weight so that others can enjoy it, collect it, share it, and so that I can move more freely through my life. Libraries are where it’s at. The problem: I am terrified to let the books go. We have been together so long and put each other through so much. The only way I can imagine sending them off is if I memorialize each and every one I have left at this moment. This blog is to honor my friends, my enemies, my lovers, my life, and my words as I have collected them through the books I have read and, finally, to move away from them and onto other things. I will never stop loving books. I will never stop reading. I plan only to stop collecting so much material, so much weight.